We all know how busy, and the amount of work as security professionals we encounter daily given its an ever-changing environment. That is where Qualys can provide the ability for quick dashboarding and views to key indicators to assist and prioritize your remediation work. #visualizedatanotcsvs#sevenmonkeys #AgentStackConsolidation

In the August 2019 Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft disclosed 7 RDP Vulnerabilities, out of which 4 are labeled as critical and 3 as important.

The cyber industry has named them as Seven Monkeys pertaining to seven CVEs released. Microsoft has released patches for these vulnerabilities and at least two of these (CVE-2019-1181&CVE-2019-1182) can be considered “wormable” and equates them to BlueKeep. Of the three “Important” RDP vulnerabilities, one (CVE-2019-1223) is a DoS, and the other two (CVE-2019-1224 and CVE-2019-1225) disclose memory contents. Microsoft update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how Remote Desktop Services handles connection requests.

What makes the SevenMonkeys Risky?

This vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker (or malware) to execute code on the vulnerable system. All the critical vulnerabilities exist in Remote Desktop Services – formerly known as Terminal Services – and do not require authentication or user interaction. To exploit the vulnerabilities, an attacker would need to send a specially crafted request to the target systems Remote Desktop Service via RDP.

How to quickly detect and remediate all in one single solution? #AgentStackConsolidation

This QID is included in signature version VULNSIGS-2.4.675-4, and requires authenticated scanning or theQualys Cloud Agent.Cloud Agents will automatically receive this new QID as part of manifest version 2.4.675-4.

No credential / Authentication record management or complex firewall profiles needed—only requires outbound encrypted communications over a single port to the Qualys Cloud Platform

Combine network scans with Cloud Agents for devices where it is not practical to install agents—firewalls, routers, etc.

Qualys Cloud Agents brings the new age of continuous monitoring capabilities to your Vulnerability Management program. This eliminates the need for establishing scanning windows, managing credential manually or integrations with credential vaults for systems, as well as the need to actually know where a particular asset resides. "Consolidate your security stack with theQualys Cloud Agent!" #AgentStackConsolidation

Mitigation?

The following mitigation may be helpful in your situation. In all cases,Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the updates for this vulnerability as soon as possible even if you plan to leave Remote Desktop Services disabled:

1. Disable Remote Desktop Services if they are not required. If you no longer need these services on your system, consider disabling them as a security best practice. Disabling unused and unneeded services helpsreduceyour exposure to security vulnerabilities.

WorkArounds?

The following workarounds may be helpful in your situation. In all cases, Microsoft strongly recommends that you install the updates for this vulnerability as soon as possible even if you plan to leave these workarounds in place:

1. Enable Network Level Authentication (NLA) on systems running supported editions: You can enable Network Level Authentication to block unauthenticated attackers from exploiting this vulnerability. With NLA turned on, an attacker would first need to authenticate to Remote Desktop Services using a valid account on the target system before the attacker could exploit the vulnerability.

2. Block TCP port 3389 at the enterprise perimeter firewall: TCP port 3389 is used to initiate a connection with the affected component. Blocking this port at the network perimeter firewall will help protect systems that are behind that firewall from attempts to exploit this vulnerability. This can help protect networks from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter. Blocking the affected ports at the enterprise perimeter is the best defense to help avoid Internet-based attacks. However, systems could still be vulnerable to attacks from within their enterprise perimeter.

Authenticated check Update:

Qualys has issued a special QID (91563) for Qualys Vulnerability Management that covers all 7 CVEs across all impacted Operating Systems. This QID is included in signature version VULNSIGS-2.4.675-4, and requires authenticated scanning or the Qualys Cloud Agent. Cloud Agents will automatically receive this new QID as part of manifest version 2.4.675-4.

WARNING: Read Before Downloading

Dashboard and Widget JSON files are not interchangeable between application dashboards. AssetView JSON files may only be used in AssetView and Vulnerability Management JSON files may only be used in Vulnerability Management. If you make a mistake and import a JSON file from one application into the other, you must contactQualys Supportto have the error corrected in the database for your subscription. Again, there is no way to reverse this mistake within the UI, it must be done in the database.